The defending Big 12 champion West Virginia University (7-1-0) was in control from start to finish against Big South Longwood University (3-4-0) last Sunday afternoon, Sept. 13.
The No. 5 nationally ranked Mountaineers sent an astonishing 41 shots at the Lancer defense, 16 on goal, on their way to a 4-0 shutout in Morgantown. Sunday’s contest was the sixth consecutive shutout by West Virginia, seventh in eight games.
"If that team is number five in the country, I can't even imagine how good the four in front of them must be," said women's soccer head coach Todd Dyer on the official Longwood athletics website.
West Virginia got off to a quick 3-0 start in the first 25 minutes of action thanks to two goals from sophomore forward and Canadian national team member Michaela Abam, who leads the Big 12 in scoring with seven.
The Mountaineers matched that effort defensively as they didn’t allow a single shot from the Lancer attack.
The loss was only the second time the Lancers had allowed more than a single goal in a game. The other one was on Sept. 2 in a 4-2 loss to Virginia Tech, who was No. 10 at the time.
Other Mountaineers who scored include senior forward Kailey Utley and sophomore midfielder Carla Portillo. Portillo tallied her first goal of the season, Utley's fifth.
Entering Sunday, the Mountaineers led the Big 12 and ranked in the NCAA top 20 in goals scored (20), as well as having the fewest goals allowed (2), while ranking in the top 20 in the NCAA in both of those categories.
The combination of senior goalkeeper Hailey Machen and sophomore goalkeeper Maria Kirby recorded 12 saves, three quarters of the shots on goal, an impressive number considering the Mountaineers had tallied 14 goals in the three games prior to Sunday.
"We did some good things today, primarily defensively, and we responded better in the second half than we did to start the game," said Dyer on the Longwood athletics official website. "If we apply what we learned on both sides of the ball today, we will only get better moving forward."
The Lancers will finish of their five game road swing this upcoming Sunday, Sept. 20 against the University of Richmond Spiders (2-4-0) before welcoming in defending Big South champion High Point University on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
West Virginia University allowed zero shots and defeated the Lancers 4-0.
